What does the NSW Children's Guardian do?

The Children's Guardian is responsible for promoting the best interests and rights of children and young people in out-of-home care.

We work to improve out-of-home care for children and young people in NSW. To do this, the Children's Guardian works with children and young people, their families and carers, government agencies, community-based organisations an other non-government organisations.

The Children's Guardian is an independent statutory office that reports directly to the Minister for Family and Community Services. The Children's Guardian can make special reports to Parliament and to the Minister.

The Children's Guardian is also responsible for regulating the employment in NSW of children who are under 15 years of age for entertainment, exhibition, still photography and door-to-door sales, and children who are under 16 years of age for any type of modelling.   We look out for the welfare and safety of these children.

Under the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998, the Children's Guardian's functions are to:

• promote the best interests of all children and young persons in out-of-home care,
• ensure that the rights of all children and young persons in out-of-home care are safeguarded and promoted,
• accredit designated agencies and to monitor their responsibilities under the Act and the regulations.

To find out more about how the Office will carry out these functions please see Accreditation section of this website.